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A suspected hit-and-run driver in Long Beach was arrested Sunday after crashing into a teenage boy, who later died of his injuries, according to authorities.
Police officers were dispatched about 12:40 a.m. to the area of South Street and Orange Avenue to investigate a hit-and-run crash, according to a Long Beach Police Department news release.
Officers and the Long Beach Fire Department tried to save the life of a 17-year-old boy, police said. He was hospitalized but later died from his injuries.
Karen Mativa, a 35-year-old Compton resident, was driving a 2012 Cadillac SRX northbound on Orange Avenue when she allegedly crashed into a boy riding a self-propelled scooter north of South Street, according to the release.
Mativa allegedly fled the scene before crashing into an apartment building at 6100 Orange Avenue, police said. She then fled on foot before being taken into custody by officers a short time later.
Mativa was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, hit-and-run resulting in death or injury, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and assault with a deadly weapon, officials said. Her bail was set at $130,000.
Relatives speaking to KABC-TV identified the teenage victim as Brandon Cabrera.
“He did not deserve to die like this at all,” said Cabrera’s friend, Aniyah Diaz. “… There goes his whole life, gone.”
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